1 Peter 1:13 (NIV)
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober,
set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed
at his coming.
We are told to remember the grace we have been given so
that we may keep our minds alert and sober to keep ourselves holy.
Can we be guilty for sinful responses that seem to erupt
in us automatically? Can we really consider sin voluntary if it is not
consciously chosen? Consider the following illustration of how unintentional
sin works:
Trained instincts—that's how fighter pilots can react
immediately to rapidly changing situations as they operate $27 million war
machines. When a threat aircraft is closing in, there's no time for pilots to
reason through what to do. They have to rely on instinct—but not just natural
instinct. They need instincts shaped deep within then through years of
regiment. The countless little decisions they make in the cockpit are
automatic, but that doesn't mean they're involuntary. The pilot voluntarily
trained for them, and in the cockpit he reaps the instinctive benefits of that
training.
Like the fighter pilot's hours of training, our hearts
are under a regimen of beliefs and values that don't align with Scripture,
drilled into us through what we put in our heads, what we receive as wisdom
from other sources, what we accept as normal from culture. All of these shape
our unintentional sin.
[Dr. Jeremy Pierre, "Involuntary Sins,"
TABLETALK (June 2016); submitted by: Van Morris, Mt. Washington]
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